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AFGHANISTAN: Political Errors Could Undermine Aid
By Sanjay Suri
LONDON, Feb 2 (IPS) - The ten billion dollars pledged in aid for
Afghanistan sounds like good news for the country, but some experts fear
it could be undermined by political misdirection.
''It sounds good on paper, but our concern is that this is going to be
undermined by the direction that geopolitics is taking in the country,''
Emmanuel Reinert, executive director of The Senlis Council, a drug policy
think tank told IPS.
A military solution to drugs ''is going to undermine the sovereignty of
Afghanistan,'' he said. ''That could lead to major unrest, and all the
money pledged - if ever delivered - could be for nothing if this is going
on.''
Afghanistan has seen some dramatic difference between pledges and
delivery before. And such delivery that is made gets whittled down along
the way.
More than five billion dollars of aid for the reconstruction of
Afghanistan was pledged over a five-year period at a meeting of donors in
Tokyo in January of 2002. Of this an amount of 1.7 billion dollars was
pledged for that year. But Afghanistan got only about 150 million dollars
in aid for reconstruction.
The 1.7 billion dollars pledged for the year was followed up by firm
commitments of only 1.1 billion dollars. A total of 900 million dollars
has come in by way of actual disbursements, of which about 70 percent
went for humanitarian relief such as providing food and to facilitate the
return of refugees.
That left about 250 million dollars for actual reconstruction aid this
year. After paying for salaries, only about 150 million dollars were left
for educational and vocational development, health and nutrition, and for
social programmes.
More development aid flowed into Afghanistan in the years following, but
the aid that reaches ground level is only a fraction of what is pledged
and then delivered, and that is likely to be no different with the
pledges made through the 'Afghan Compact' as the donors meeting this week
in London was called.
Of the aid received in the past, Afghans themselves have got to handle
only a fraction. Most of it went to Western non-governmental
organisations and companies from donor countries engaged in development
projects.
''When you go to the real Afghanistan, you will see that the money is not
going to those who need it, the farmers, families, rural people,''
Reinert said. ''Afghan development policy is a myth, out there you hardly
see anything.''
Afghan officials have been protesting against aid in this form. A joint
Afghan-United Nations commission will seek to ensure that Afghans have
more say where the aid goes. But the aid package is likely to be
concentrated on security and poppy eradication, and on supporting
education to prevent another generation of terrorists coming up.
Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the world's opium and heroin, and this
is certain to present the biggest challenge for Western influence in
Afghanistan - and the most likely source of conflict. This is the one
area the West wants to supervise, rather than leave to Afghan authorities.
''Money should be used for policies and in ways that help the Afghan
government help itself,'' Reinert said.
The aid being offered to Afghanistan is tied to a dangerous policy of
poppy eradication, he said. ''The new money should be used to support the
Afghans to make good use of the opium produced, not to wipe out the
cultivation.''
The aid pledges come in the wake of growing militancy by the Taliban or
Taliban-like groups in the south of Afghanistan. The Senlis Council says
forced eradication of poppy could exacerbate that unrest.
(END/2006)
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